Oh I couldn't agree more about the weirdness of it all LZ. I have been thinking about this book on and off for days. There are lots of different version of love and ways to have relationships depicted in the story. I would not wait 50 years for romantic love but I would wait that long for my son, to re-establish a relationship with him if something happened. I probably wouldn't even wait for a tenth of that time romantically if the other person was rejecting me though. I'm very pragmatic and not prone to romantic impulses. Having said that, I don't think Florentino actually waited for Fermina. He had heaps of sex and affairs and loved a couple of those women (or could have if he'd not been fixated on Fermina). I also agree that this is not really a love story. It's more a story about life in that part of the world in that historical context. The more I think about Florentino, the more I see him as somebody with mental health issues - he seems obsessive-compulsive to me and to have a very dependent personality style. Some of his physical health problems (constipation etc) seem to be brought on by stress/anxiety. And he developed into a pederast at the end. I was waiting for that young girl to expose him and felt disappointed that she killed herself instead.
I also can't get past the fact that he lied to Fermina at the end by telling her he'd waited and been chaste for her. He's basing their whole relationship on a lie. I can't get past that.
I also keep wondering what the author meant when he said readers shouldn't fall into his trap. I've been trying to work out what that actually means.
Thing is, everyone knew that Florentino was sleeping around: even Fermina. So why not call him up on that? I think you're right Kaz, he was seriously ill. Several screws loose. And sleeping with a little girl his parents asked him to look after while she was at school, then dumping her once Urbino died: he's so very, very wrong. In every sense of the word.
In my opinion; from the book, I think Kevin had a mental health issue, maybe something chemical. I dont think it was their parenting at all. Sure they werent perfect and made mistakes, dont we all, but nothing that other parents havent done and not every kid is running around becoming a school shooter. I think if you place blame on them that maybe it should be for not seeking the help of a psychiatrist looooooong before he did what he did.
I cried when she talked about finding Celia and her husband So horrible.
I dont blame the parents for they way they raised Kevin, there was something nqr in his brain....like you said kids just dont go around shooting people.
Perhaps they should have taken him to see someone, but when you have two parents who see Kevin in totally different lights, it would make it hard. Her husband thought Kevin could do no wrong, so if she had of brought it up, would he have agreed to him seeing someone? Maybe just to satisfy her, but he wouldn't have like it.
The ending was horrible. I wasnt expecting it to end like that... So very sad.
I guess thats one of the themes of the book - hindsight, what ifs. What if she'd just told her husband to go jump and got Kevin seen by someone? Would it have changed the outcome. What if she had listened to her gut when Celia got hurt, that Kevin wasnt 'safe' to be around?
What boggled my mind was the very end. Even with everything that happened, everything he did; she was still planning on taking him in when he got out of jail. I wondered what her motivation was; was it a mothers love or is it sort of a guilt thing because she thinks she inadvertanly did something to make him the way he is?
I have always said there is a line my kids could cross that would make me cut them off completely. Being a murderer or some other horrid thing was one of the lines. Im not sure if I were her I could do that after what he did.
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So horrible.
So very sad.
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